Quantitative comparison of lipids in some pollens and their phagostimulatory effects in honey bees

Lipid extraction in honey bee collected corbiculum pollen from seven plant host species showed distinct differences in amounts of lipid within preferr ed/non-preferred honey bee pollens. Mean amounts of lipid in highly preferr ed pollens such as Brassica campestris var. Toria, Cosmos bipinnatus and Ra phanus sativum were 20.3%, 19.4% and 17.8%, respectively, and in least pref erred pollens such as Helianthus annuus and Petunia hybrida were 11.9% and 11.6%, respectively. The cumulative flabellogustatory responses further dem onstrated a significant linear increase in stimulatory effects to B. campes tris pollen lipid extracts, whereas the response repertoire with Fl hybrida was of reverse order. The bee responses to an identical lipid concentratio n of B. campestris, Dahlia sp., H. annuus and P. hybrido manifested clear e vidence for inhibitory effects of H. annuus lipids to Apis mellifera and A. dorsata suggesting that pollen lipids play a considerable role in honey be e preference for pollen collection.